Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a blast cabinet for carving a work-piece, and more specifically, to a blast cabinet specifically configured and adapted to allow an operator to hold the work-piece outside of a blasting enclosure with one hand and manipulate a carving nozzle located within the blasting enclosure with the other hand, which substantially eliminates the need to cover the work-piece in protective tape, thereby resulting in a quicker, more efficient carving process.
Description of the Related Art
Sandblast etching, carving, and engraving highly detailed designs in materials, such as glass, crystal, stone, and metals is well known in the art. To that end, blast cabinets have been used for designing surfaces on a work-piece by directing high pressure fluid containing abrasive blast media or blast particulate toward the work-piece. The abrasive blast particulate is typically a relatively hard material such as aluminum oxide and silicon carbide, although many other materials may be selected for use as the blast particulate.
Conventional sandcarving entails utilizing a photo-developed film to carve patterns on many different work-pieces formed of different materials and having a wide range of shapes. The work-piece is carved using a developed film, which is applied to the work-piece to only allow certain areas of the work-piece to be carved. The film is attached to the work-piece prior to carving and removed from the work-piece after carving.
A conventional blast cabinet typically includes a housing supported on legs. The housing defines a generally air tight enclosure having a pair of arm holes with gloves hermetically sealed thereto such that an operator may manipulate a blast hose and/or the work-piece for blasting thereof within the enclosure. The blast hose is configured to direct the high pressure fluid such as air carrying the blast particulate at high velocity toward the work-piece surfaces. The blast cabinet typically includes a transparent window to allow the operator to manipulate the work-piece and to visually observe the progress of the blasting.
During carving, the work-piece having the film attached thereto is placed within the enclosure and the high-pressure blasting media is directed toward the work-piece. The blast media bounces off of the work-piece and is generally violently thrown about within the enclosure along with surface coatings, dirt and scale that are abraded from the work-piece by the blast media. As such, any exposed surface of the work-piece may be scratched or scuffed by the moving blast particular, surface coatings, dirt and scale. Thus, to protect against such inadvertent scratching or scuffing, the work-piece is commonly wrapped with a protective covering, e.g., protective tape, prior to the carving step and removed after the carving step. Oftentimes, tape residue remains on the work-piece and must be removed from the work-piece prior to final shipment to the consumer. The process of applying the protective covering to the work-piece tends to be a very labor intensive, tedious and time consumer endeavor, which inflates the overall cost of the end product. Along these lines, the time attributable to applying and removing the protective tape can account for approximately 40% of the overall processing time.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an improved and more efficient blast cabinet design which allows a work-piece to be carved, sand blasted, etc., outside of the main cabinet to reduce or eliminate the added cost for protective part taping. Various aspects of the present invention address these particular needs, as will be discussed in more detail below.